Aliona Vilani confirms her return to Strictly Come Dancing on Twitter after injury forces Natalie Lowe out of the competition
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The new series of Strictly Come Dancing is yet to foxtrot back onto Saturday night TV, but there’s already been backstage drama with the news that professional dancer Natalie Lowe has been forced to pull out.
Strictly veteran Lowe, 32, injured herself while training for the show – which returns this weekend.
Her place will now be filled by Russian-Kazakhstani dancer Aliona Vilani, a runner-up on the 2010 series with TV presenter Matt Baker before winning the competition with McFly drummer Harry Judd the following year.
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Good to be back: Professional dancer Aliona Vilani has confirmed her return to Strictly Come Dancing following an injury to Australian Natalie Lowe
She also joined up with retired Bolton Wanderers footballer Fabrice Muamba, but was overlooked for the forthcoming 11th series prior to Lowe’s injury.
Writing on Twitter, the 29-year-old admitted she was thrilled to be making a return to the hugely popular show.
‘Can speak about it now OFFICIALLY: I’m doing Strictly Come Dancing 2013 and I’ll be on your tvs full time doing my thing Vilani style,’ she tweeted on Sunday evening.
Revealing: Aliona broke the news in a series of updates on Twitter
In a further update to her account on Monday morning, she revealed: ‘I’ll be replacing injured Natalie to pair up with a celeb in the new Strictly series and dance with Brendan in pro numbers.’
Despite being forced to sit the new series out, Australian Lowe – who came seventh with cricketer Michael Vaughn last year – admits she can’t wait for proceedings to get underway this Saturday.
She told The Sun: ‘This series is going to blow everyone away and I cannot wait to get my feet back on the dance floor.’
Triumph: Aliona won the show with McFly drummer Harry Judd in 2011
Veterans: Aliona took the dance floor with Matt Baker in 2010, while Natalie Lowe paired up with cricketer Michael Vaughn in 2012
Lowe’s injury echoes the one picked up by Vilani last year, who was scheduled to perform with Johnny Ball until injury forced her out of the competition.
A BBC spokesperson has confirmed that Natalie will be welcomed back to the show ‘as soon as she is fit to.’
This year’s line-up includes Rachel Riley, Abbey Crouch, Julian Macdonald, Patrick Robinson, Tony Jacklin, Deborah Meaden, Dave Myers, Ben Cohen, Ashley Taylor Dawson, Mark Benton, Susanna Reid, Fiona Fullerton, Natalie Gumede and Vanessa Feltz.
The show kicks off this Saturday on BBC One.
Injured: Natalie Lowe has been forced to pull out of the forthcoming series of Strictly Come Dancing
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2408909/Aliona-Vilani-confirms-return-Strictly-Come-Dancing-Twitter.html#ixzz2dnlvNoQg
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